“Glee’s” visibility and panache has attracted the top talent from Broadway and is now drawing from Hollywood as well. Gwenyth Paltrow is rumored to be appearing on upcoming episodes as a substitute teacher — and yes, she will sing and dance. Paltrow has a lovely voice, as she showed in the under-rated “Duets.” I love her duet with Huey Lewis to “Cruisin’ Together.” She has a lovely, clear voice and a gift for harmony.
She plays a country singer in her upcoming film, “Country Strong.” Can’t wait to see what she’ll sing on “Glee.”
The fall season of television begins this week and there’s a lot to look forward to, from returning favorites to intriguing new shows. Here are some of the shows I’m most excited about.
“Glee” returns with episodes celebrating Britney Spears and “The Rocky Horror Show.” New cast members include Charice Pempengco, who captivated Oprah and Celine Dion with her big voice and sweet personality.
I got an intriguing glimpse of “The Event” at Comic-Con. Blair Underwood plays the President of the United States in a paranoid puzzler of a thriller that could be the new “Lost.” The supporting cast includes top talent Laura Innes, Jason Ritter, and Zeljko Ivanek.
I love glamorous romantic adventure, so I am looking forward to “Undercovers,” with the gorgeous Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as a married couple who once were spies and are still gets called by the CIA for special project. I am sure those projects will involve exotic locations and sexy banter. Can’t wait!
I have had a weakness for lawyer shows since the original “Perry Mason” and there are a bunch of news ones this year. I’m looking forward to “The Defenders” with Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell and co-starring one of my favorite young actors, Jurnee Smollet. The Las Vegas setting should give them some interesting cases. And I’m glad to see Tom Selleck returning in “Blue Bloods,” about a family of law enforcement officials, including Bridget Moynahan and former NKTB-er Donnie Walhberg.
But the show I am most excited about is Martin’s Scorsese’s Boardwalk Empire, written by “The Soprano’s” Terence Winter. Set in Prohibition era Atlantic City, it stars Steve Buscemi as a political fixer who is part politician and part gangster. It features a powerhouse cast from the big screen including Michael Stuhlbarg (“A Serious Man”) Gretchen Mol (“The Notorious Bettie Page”), Michael Shannon (“Revolutionary Road”), and Michael Pitt (“Hedwig and the Angry Inch”).
Celebrate “Talk Like a Pirate Day” with a look at this delightful sketch from “Saturday Night Live” with Peter Sarsgaard visiting a Pirate’s Convention and finally figuring out why they really wanted him to be there.
And don’t forget the delightfully piratical Tim Curry in “Muppet Treasure Island:”
“This is the rebirth of a dream,” said Ebert, who partnered in recent years with Richard Roeper before cancer robbed him of the ability to speak. He said he will act as co-producer and employ a computer voice to appear on every episode with segments titled Roger’s Office devoted to classic, overlooked and new films.
